I made tortillas from a recipe I found thanks to Ruby Leigh. She linked to a post on tortilla making over at Deals to Meals which worked out really well (I used the first recipe).
Problems I had-
- Finding the right temp to fry them at so that they'd cook without burning
- cooking them enough so they were actually cooked- last two were best, I think
- keeping them moving so they'd cook evenly
- getting them to roll thin enough so they'd cook, but keeping them thick enough so I could move them
- making them round. I have rectangular ones, oblong tortillas, and a couple that look like caption bubbles from a cartoon.
- oh, yeah, and remembering not to smoosh down air bubbles with my nekkid hand- can you say ouchy?
So yeah. easy to mix, easy to fry once I got the hang of it, and- tho they're all a little under cooked- pretty tasty. I stuffed them with black beans and yellow squash sauted with onions and salt. The yellow squash (or maybe it was the salt...) made the tacos taste almost cheesey, and the fresh hot tortillas were much more flexible then the ones you get at the store.
I only ate three, so I have 5 left in the fridge. Om nom nom.
oh, and I cheated with another biiiig bag of chips. But I didn't give into temptation a second time and go out for chocolate- I made the tortillas instead. And they were much more satisfying.
In other news, the pasta dough from sometime last week went to the great food beyond today. When they say don't leave raw pasta dough in the fridge for more than a couple days, I guess they mean it. It does kinda make sense, though. I've just never seen dough grow *speckled* with fur before. I'll keep pretending it was fur, too, and not bugs, if no one minds. I didn't open it, just tossed the sealed baggie.
right, so- tortillas are a win, tho I need some practice before I serve them to strangers. Sorry for no action shots of making them, RM #2 was at home, but busy with WoW, and I didn't want to get dough in the camera. Links go up tomorrow. Fun was had. Don't tell your family *before* you feed them something "strange", tell them after you get your praise. And YAY! Thank you for playing my silly food game with me.
Anyone interested in trying another one sometime in June? Different challenge, though.
I agree on the "dont tell" policy when it comes to new/strange food. Or after, or for a few days and just mention it casually.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing, I faced most of your problems... the last two definitely were the best ones. I wasnt expecting the bubbling to be that... much. But mine were VERY thin. I just had my fire at very low, and they still cooked pretty evenly (but got dry and rather "crispy" fast. I wanted them a bit softer...
But totally up for another challenge! I need to make sure I have some sort of pantry this time.
Ok, hope this counts, I 'made' chocolate syrup. I do most cooking and baking from scratch so it took some thought to find something I usually only buy. I make an awesome (& easy) hot fudge sauce but never tried to make chocolate syrup. Getting it good aint easy. I used cocoa powder, sugar and water according to one recipe, but it didn't taste like Hershey's so I tried adding some corn syrup. Still wasn't great. Kept experimenting and added more cocoa. One recipe said bring to a boil, others said don't cook. Anyway, the results were not great. I think I'll keep buying Hershey's...this just wasn't worth the trouble.
ReplyDeleteI'm up for another challenge.
ReplyDeleteAt least in the photo, those look like store bought tortillas. My plan for next weekend's homemade pitas will be done in a pan (no way I'm heating the oven in this heat), and your results give me hope it might actually work.
ReplyDeleteTJ- mine were kinda thick, and still a little undercooked, so super flexy. I also cooked them on medium/ high or high, so the outside cooked fast, and most of the moisture was trapped inside. Watching them go from translucent to white was kinda cool tho. The steam-burned finger still hurts- who'd think that pockets of air were really bubbles of super heated steam?
ReplyDeleteCyndee- Counts for me. Now you know something that doesn't work, which is good info to have, and you got to play with sugar and chocolate. Sounds like fun to me.
Kim- the ones I cooked twice puffed a lot more then the ones I just did once- I think cooking the outer "skin" made it easier to trap air inside. so if you're doing pocket pitas, you might try double cooking- once on higher temp to form a seal on the outside, then on a (slightly) lower temp to cook the middle. If you're doing un-pocket ones, I've no idea- I've never gotten them to turn out right.
I'll start thinking about ideas for another challenge.
I'm up for another challenge. I'm currently making the food for this challenge (I settled on chocolate apple butter), so I'll probably comment the link in this post when it's done, unless you'd prefer I send the link to you another way.
ReplyDeleteYou can post it here or send the link to the e-mail addy in the sidebar. I know some people are having trouble posting (drat those cookies...) and they can e-mail too, and I'll include it. So long as they get it in before I write tomorrows post...
ReplyDeleteChocolate apple butter sounds sooo good. When I have dollars again I want to try making nutella- vegan style. Hazelnuts are *not* in a dollar a day diet.
If it takes until tomorrow to firm up, I'll know I used way too much water. As it is right now, I think I've got the proportions kind of wrong and it's going to make a lot less than I intended.
ReplyDeleteBut, if people are having trouble posting then I'll likely just use the email on the side.
It's a miracle. I got it done (and it turned out WAY better than I expected). Here it is!
ReplyDeletehttp://seidhr.blogspot.com/2010/05/chocolate-apple-butter.html
Your tortillas look so yummy! I really like the idea of a thicker shell. What tool did you use to form them? tortilla press? rolling pin? hands? (okay, that's stretching it).
ReplyDeleteAlso, did you use just an all-purpose flour? Tortillas are another one of those things that I like to eat as whole wheat only... so I wonder if whole wheat flour would work.
JL- I used my handy dandy $5 rolling pin. I use my cutting board as a rolling mat, it's got slight texture in the center, so it holds without ripping it up or sticking too bad.
ReplyDeleteI used unbleached white flour. I imagine they'd work without too many changes up to about 50/50- after that... dunno.
OK- anyone not in yet missed the cut-off. No sparkly invisible points for you.